BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — On Friday, first round games of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament took place at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, approximately 11 and a half hours and 767 miles southwest of Tulsa, the madness crept into an important 31-5A softball game between Mission Veterans and Sharyland.
The Lady Rattlers needed to stage a couple of comebacks to defeat the Lady Patriots 18-8 at Sharyland High School on Friday night. Each team scored one run in the first inning, but Mission Veterans (7-9, 4-3) put up a five spot in the top half of the second to take a 6-1 lead.
“When we got down, I told them, just like what my shirt says, ‘Never ever quit,’” Sharyland coach Paul Cruz said. “‘That means you guys are either going to go ahead and keep on fighting or you’re going to throw the towel in. I know you’re not the type to throw the towel in.’ And they came back.”
Sharyland (10-6, 6-1) answered with two runs in the second to slice Mission Veterans’ lead to three. Beginning in the third, Sharyland pitcher Tristen Maddox shook off early rust to stymie Mission Veterans hitters with three shutout innings in a row.
In the bottom half of the third, the Lady Rattlers began working on their first comeback. With the score at 6-3, Sharyland leadoff hitter Melanie Lazos drove in a run with a base hit. As Lazos stood on first, the Mission Veterans infield gathered around the mound to calm starting pitcher Iliana Contreras down. But the Lady Patriots had failed to signal a timeout to the umpires.
Picking up signs from Cruz, Lazos took second and third base before the Mission Veterans players retreated to their positions.
“When I saw their catcher go up to their pitcher and didn’t see her turn around and ask the umpire for time, that’s when I asked the umpire, ‘Hey, did she call timeout because I didn’t see anything,’” Cruz said. “And he said, ‘No.’ So that’s why I sent her (Lazos). This is the first time something like this has happened in the 21 years I’ve been a coach.”
The Lady Rattlers would finish the third with four runs and a 7-6 advantage — their first lead of the game. In the top of the sixth, the Lady Patriots got a two-out, two-run single from Clarissa Gonzales to put Mission Veterans back in front at 8-7. Sharyland came back after Lazos, who got on base with her fourth hit of the night, came around to score the game-tying run on a dribbler by Norma Quintanilla that was bobbled by Mission Vets.
With the game tied at 8, starter Tristen Maddox stepped into the batters box.
“In my mind, I was thinking, ‘First two strikes: hit for the fences. Last strike: just make contact,’” Maddox said.
Maddox laced a tiebreaking two-run double into the outfield and put the Lady Rattlers up 10-8. Sharyland would score eight more runs in the frame, capped off by a bases-clearing double by Quintanilla to end the game.
After dropping their first district game to Sharyland Pioneer (13-4, 6-0) on Monday night with an upcoming matchup against the equally dangerous Rio Grande City (6-1 in district) on Tuesday, Cruz believes his girls are close to hitting their stride.
“They’ve done this (comebacks) more than once, and I think it’s a sign of a good team,” Cruz said. “We’ve been putting the work in. Batting stations and things like that. I told them, ‘If you’re willing to withstand the monotony, you’re going to get better.’”